By Susan Weaver Jones

A well-rounded library is the heart of every classroom. Students use it daily, and it provides abundant resources while cultivating a love of reading. It is crucial to examine the books you have, retire books that no longer serve you, and add new books to expand and keep your library fun and fresh! Here are some tips to help.

Get Critical of the Books You Have & What You Need

First, get in the mind frame of allowing yourself to be critical of the books you have and dream big about the books you want!

Then, clean out what you don’t use. Are there books in your library that have been untouched over the years? If so, it is okay to pass them along to someone else. Giving away unused books opens space for new titles, bringing fresh energy to your library.

Next, decide what books to add to your collection. Use these questions to help brainstorm ideas:

• What titles and topics appeal to students?
• Are there student favorites you want more copies of? Or a series with recurring characters that has more titles you can add?
• What grade-level themes and standards are you responsible for teaching? What books will expand upon that content?
• Do you have a variety of genres?
• Do you have diverse representation in your stories so students can see a reflection of themselves in your books?

Add to Your Wish List Year-Round

Throughout the school year, you will likely have many moments when you think of books you would like to add to your library. Write them down! Remembering every book you wish for is nearly impossible. Decide where you will put your easy-to-access wish list. It can be on your phone, computer, or pinned to a bulletin board behind your desk in your classroom. Keep it in the same place all year, and add to it as often as possible. At the end of the school year, or anytime there’s an opportunity to purchase books, your wish list will be a gold mine of book ideas.

Embrace Your Inner Bookworm & Students Will Too!

Let your enthusiasm for books shine! Talk about the books you love and why you love them with your students. Sharing your joy of reading opens the door for students to do the same. Here are some ways to encourage students to express what they enjoy about the books they read:

• Find a wall space in your classroom to use year-round where students can "post" about the books they read. Click here to download templates you can use for students to post about what they read.
• Rank books: How many stars (or you can use the school mascot instead of stars) would students give a book and why? 

• Post 1-2 sentences about why a book was fascinating or funny. You can also encourage students to draw a scene that made them laugh or make a text feature to illustrate their learning.

• For students reading longer books, encourage them to post anytime, they do not have to wait until they finish the book. Student can post about what might happen next in a story, interesting characters' choices, or intriguing facts. 
• Create individual student or classroom wish lists so students can ask for more books, too! 

Expand your library based on what students share! Put yourself in their shoes, see books from their point of view, and read what they post about books. Doing this will inspire you to find more books they will love.

Consider Topics & Book Levels

Students may not know a particular author or book title they want, but they can often tell you about a topic they are interested in reading more about. For example, they may want more books about space, animals, or technology. Ask them and find out!

Another benefit of getting more topic-related books is using them to support classroom content. It's convenient and easy to use books from your classroom library to extend learning about themes you are teaching and expose students to even more topic-related vocabulary.

Consider getting topic-related books at different reading levels to allow students of all reading abilities to participate together in literacy activities. Having various levels of topic-related books on hand makes differentiation and group collaboration easy to manage! Hameray's Content Area Collections are a convenient way to find books of different levels on a particular topic.

Classroom libraries are where students spend time daily exploring the world through books. As the number of books in your library increases, the benefits for your students are endless. With opportunities to read, write, and discuss topics using a variety of texts for reference, students will not only further their learning but also fall in love with reading!

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Hameray's Classroom Libraries are curated sets of content-rich, high-interest books for K–5 readers. Sets feature fables that support SEL topics, Joy Cowley's humorous fiction, high-interest nonfiction, biographies of diverse leaders, STEM, and more! Find the set you need to fill gaps in your classroom library. Click here for Spanish Classroom Libraries. 
 

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Susan Weaver Jones is a retired elementary school educator who enjoyed working with students to develop their confidence, proficiency, and pleasure in reading and writing. She is also the author of several leveled readers in Hameray’s Kaleidoscope Collection and Zoozoo Animal World Collection.